Obligation to the past

NUREMBERG will be forever associated with Nazism – the Nazi rallies and the trials of the surviving Nazi elite in the months after World War II.

The city’s pivotal role in the Holy Roman Empire and Germanic history attracted Hitler and his cronies and it became the spiritual home of Nazism.

It was this which led to the devastating British raid by more than 500 Lancaster bombers which destroyed 90 per cent of the old city. Much of the city’s art treasures were safely stored in the 500-year-old complex of beer storage tunnels under the city which also served as air raid shelters for the population. Wartime connecting tunnels were carved out by slave labour from the occupied territories.

For decades, the city tried to look forward. But with the passing of time has come a compulsion to make the world aware of the city’s role in mankind’s darkest chapter.

They call it their Obligation to the Past. Enough remains of the Nazi rally grounds to the south of the city to stop you in your tracks at the sheer scale.

To actually stand where Hitler spouted his warped views to the massed ranks on the Zeppelin Field chills you to the bone.

The congress hall now houses a permanent ‘Fascination and Terror’ exhibition which puts all the madness into context in a truly compelling way.

The other half of Nuremberg’s Nazi legacy lies across town in the Palace of Justice. Having escaped the Allies air raids, it was chosen as the venue for the trial of the surviving high-ranking Nazis who hadn’t escaped as Berlin fell.

The accompanying exhibition details the famous trial of the Nazi ringleaders – but also the later trials of the depraved Nazi doctors who carried out medical experiments on concentration camp inmates.

A lesson from history indeed.